Sticking to the Narrative

When President Barack Obama took office, he inherited an economy that was losing an average of 750,000 jobs a month. As of April, private-sector jobs have now recovered to the number we had when he started. That’s 4.2 million jobs in the past 26 months.

So why the high unemployment rate? Largely because of public-sector job cuts — most in states that saw new GOP governors and legislatures elected in 2010 slash budgets for teachers, public safety and other service functions. Without these cuts, the Labor Department estimates our unemployment rate would be at 7.1 percent. Not the 8.1 percent it’s at now.

Democrats are job creators, says Granholm. Because they invest and they hire government workers. Duh.

It’s MATH, not politics.

Apparently she was on the weekend shows not too long ago, and this is what she said:

GRANHOLM: Let me put Michigan on the table as a counter example. Michigan had the toughest economy in the nation for the first decade of this past year (sic) because of the loss of automotive and manufacturing jobs. There was a decision by the Obama administration to intervene. At that point, we had hit bottom. Our unemployment rate was 14.5 percent. It’s now 8.4. It’s the second quickest — the second fastest drop of any state in the country. But the reason is, because there was a decision made to intervene (i.e., Government Motors) to save that industry, put it on solid ground. They had great management. There was a decision made to intervene to allow us to diversify the economy. And as a result, Michigan is now seeing a recovery. The hands-off strategy would not be working.

“Yes we’ve seen payroll growth and job growth,” he explained, “but at the same time we’ve seen labor force withdrawal.”

Some of the shrinking labor force can be attributed to people giving up looking for work temporarily or permanently. If those people, estimated at more than a million nationwide, were counted in the figures, the unemployment rate would show an increase.

In Michigan, the labor force (seasonally-adjusted) has shrunk 0.6 percent over the last year. In Detroit, the January data show the labor force decreasing by 1 percent, a figure Rhein said is significant.

“The labor force has declined, fewer people [are] actively seeking [jobs], and even with a lower rate, that means there are problems,” he said.

And …

Contrary to what Granholm says, General Motors is not on “solid ground.” The bailout money that GM received under TARP has not been repaid, to the tune of some forty billion dollars, including $14.5 billion owed by Ally Financial (formerly GMAC). Moreover, TARP funds were placed in an escrow account for GM, and GM used $6.7 billion of those taxpayer dollars to repay the money owed to the taxpayers. Neat accounting trick if you do not get caught. So at least some $46 billion of taxpayer funds went to benefit union workers and to help put the Michigan state financial house in order. Yes, if you can steal $46 billion from someone else, you can pretend that you have “great management” and that you are on “solid ground.” But it is still nonsense.

5 Comments on “Sticking to the Narrative”

You know, life is so unfair to Democrats. Jennifer Granholm was governor for eight years while the Michigan economy went to hell—all due to George Bush of course. Then after she is out of office, succeeded by an unworthy Republican, her brilliant economic strategies finally begin to bear fruit. Who can forget Automation Alley, the Life Sciences Corridor, Cool Cities, or the No Worker Left Behind program? Sad.